1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates generally to lasers and, more particularly, to a compact, optically pumped, high power, liquid impingement cooled solid state laser head.
2. Description of Related Art
Prior known optically pumped lasers provide only one or two passes of the optical pump light through the laser crystal rod. Inefficient metallic reflecting coatings have been used on the pump cavity exterior, resulting in reduced optical coupling efficiency of the pumped radiation to the laser rod. Such lasers have further employed a costly large fused silica ellipsoidal cavity and polished laser rods, causing depumping by parasitic oscillations.
Another problem attendant to prior known optically pumped lasers is the existence of "optical caustics." This term refers to optical foci within the integrating cavity caused by reflection and refraction at the optical surfaces which may cause damage to the optical materials within the cavity.